


Every Rose

by Star_Crab



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: And a better redemption story instead of just killing him, Billy Hargrove & Eleven | Jane Hopper Friendship, Billy Hargrove Needs a Hug, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Police Officer Billy Hargrove, Slow Burn, past trauma, the is just me saying Fuck You to canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 06:01:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20003479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Crab/pseuds/Star_Crab
Summary: Billy attends his 10 Year High School Reunion.





	Every Rose

He doesn’t know why he is staring. 

Really. He doesn’t, but it might have something to do with not seeing you since the second part of senior year after you had dumped his ass. 

And it wasn’t pretty either for both sides. Words were exchanged. Cruel, terrible words on his part while you just stared at him, eyes glassy and rimmed red while you tried not to cry. 

_ We’re done.  _

After all he’s been through over the years nothing hurt as much as you saying that simple phrase before turning around and walking back to Hawkins from the lake. He had screamed and thrown one of his favorite cassette tapes, effectively shattering it when it crashed into a tree. 

He finds out a week later that what you had wanted to talk to him about was that you were moving and he had learned it from Max of all people. 

_ “Where the hell have you been?” His voice is rough and he coughs slightly at the end from all of the cigarettes he had burned through that day already. It was barely 9 in the morning.  _

_ Max rolls her eyes and puts her skateboard down. “Went to say bye to Y/N.”  _

_ Wait bye?  _

_ “What do you mean ‘bye to Y/N’?”  _

_ She looks at him as if he were stupid, which she wasn’t too far off. “She’s moving to Chicago today. The truck was leaving by the time I left with Lucas and Dustin. Didn’t she tell you?”  _

_ “No she didn’t.”  _

But you’re here and talking with Steve and Robin. Laughing and smiling as if you didn’t disappear for the last ten years. 

“Are you going to stare or are you going to go and talk to her?” 

“Fucking Christ, Maxine!” His drinks spills at the sudden appearance of his sister at his side with her own cup of possibly spiked punch. 

She’s the only reason why he was here. 

After the year of ‘85 and everything with the Mind Flayer, he had gotten better after  _ months _ of treatment and the help of Eleven -- Janie, to him. He had apologized profusely to her for what he had done while possessed and thanked her for pulling him out. 

Billy had started helping out more around the house with Susan and hung out more with Max and her groups of nerds she calls friends. Even if that meant spending time with Harrington, but Billy won’t deny that Robin is an excellent addition to their ragtag group and knows how to hold up her side of snarky and witty one-liners. 

They still didn’t know what had happened to Eleven’s powers until Neil had come home one night raging and Billy just acted. 

Hopper ruled it as ‘reckless driving’ and helped stage a terrible crash as evidence with Neil’s car. He also had Billy stay with him, El, and Joyce while trying to help him control it. After a few weeks he could move a glass cup without shattering it. 

Susan, Max, and him were free from his father. Free from the violence that stained the walls of their home. Susan had made them all a feast of a dinner and wore the dress Neil had always hated, but she loved wearing it, to celebrate. 

Susan had been surprisingly helpful after everything and had gotten to know what had happened to Will and why people tended to go missing under mysterious circumstances, but that also means she got more stern with how she raised them. She was given one of Dustin’s walkie talkies and extra batteries at Steve’s insistence. She, Hopper, and Joyce have weekly dinners planned where everyone would come over and eat, but between 10 kids, it was hard to keep the food on the table. 

Now Billy won’t say that he uses his newfound powers to spy on his friends, but he totally uses his powers to spy on his friends. It’s funny to see them sputtering when he asks very specific of what they had done that afternoon. He once spied on a girl that Robin had liked at her request, but it turns out she had an obsession with Rob Lowe. Like, a crazy obsession. 

He had avoided the five year reunion that Tina had planned by saying he was going on a family trip to California. It wasn’t a total lie, but still wasn’t the complete truth. The only reason why he came to this one because Max had convinced him under the condition of her going with him and that Nancy had given him the invitation personally. Which also explains why you were here. You and Nancy were always close. 

And he couldn’t stop staring at you in your sundress that made you look like a goddamn house wife from the 50s and he loves it. He was so used to seeing you in jeans and a sweater or one of his shirts and some shorts and tennies. Never a dress though and he feels deprived that he had never seen it until now. 

Max hits him to get his attention. “Are you even listening to me?” 

“No, not really.” 

She hits him again and he purposely spills her drink on her blouse. 

“Bastard.” 

“Shitbird.” 

“Look, you’ll need to talk to her at some point tonight because I think Steve invited her along to whatever you guys are doing after this,” she says taking napkins to her shirt. 

“Steve did what?” He hisses out to his sister. “What do you mean Steve invited her?” 

Max just looks at him as if to say ‘really?’ and rolls her eyes again. 

“Look it’s been years and I know you still feel bad about it all, Billy. She probably barely remembers it.” 

Now it’s his turn to roll his eyes. “Believe me when I say that she can hold a grudge. I think she remembers that I still owe her twenty after I was out of cash for lunch one day.” 

“Then maybe now is the time to, ya know, talk to her about it.” 

He doesn’t get much of a choice really because Robin and Steve are walking over with behind them. Billy takes a big drink of his punch to avoid initial conversation, but chokes on it when he sees a glint of a ring on her hand. 

_ Oh _ . . . Even Max seems to choke when seeing the rather large rock. 

“Hi Billy.” 


End file.
